In a conventional video conference system, the participants may be notified to attend the conference at particular locations. Each location typically has one installed video conference facility including for example microphones, cameras, and network links for communication to several other similar facilities. The communication typically includes audio and video signals used to support business conversation, business graphics, and eye contact among the participants. If a participant arrives at a proper location for the scheduled video conference and for any reason the conference cannot proceed, no provision is made for making a best efforts attempt at accomplishing a business purpose of the video conference.
Without systems and methods according to various embodiments of the present invention, attempts at using video conferencing will continue to result in frustration in some cases because the underlying business purposes or personal purposes for the conference can be frustrated. The difficulty in establishing a value for the loss or damage to business relationships due to unreliable conventional video conferencing systems does not make unreasonable the assertion that unsatisfactory video conferencing may have enormous effects on those who rely on video conferencing for business relationships. Also, by reducing factors that contribute to unreliable video conferencing, future use of video conferencing according to the present invention may expand to meet new applications.